October 27, 2013 11:16 PM CDTOctober 27, 2013 11:31 PM CDTIf Baylor wins out, analyst says they won't have to worry about any one-loss teams when it comes to BCS

If Baylor wins out, analyst says they won't have to worry about any one-loss teams when it comes to BCS

2/13

Ed Zurga/AP

No. 1 Baylor Bears (7-0, 4-0 in Big 12)

Result: W 59-14 over Kansas

It seems as if more and more ranked teams are being upset by smaller schools this year. That hasn't been a problem with Baylor. They played their last "easy" game against Kansas. Now the real season starts. -- Josh Friemel

No matter how many points and no matter how many yards, the bottom line is all about keeping the goose egg in the loss column.

“All they can do is keep winning the games and see where it might shake out,” said BCS analyst Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com.

Baylor improved to sixth in Sunday’s BCS standings, jumping two spots in the second week. It wasn’t so much the Bears’ 59-14 win over Kansas as what happened elsewhere on the college football landscape.

Missouri watched a chip shot field goal bounce off the left upright in overtime against South Carolina and suffered its first loss. Texas Tech, greeted with an “OVERRATED” newspaper headline Saturday morning in Oklahoma, fell to the Sooners but certainly didn’t look overmatched.

But each lost. All told, just eight unbeaten teams remain in the Bowl Subdivision, with six from power conferences.

There’s no reason to believe that we’ll see more unbeatens than normal down the stretch, according to Palm.

“Usually a month from now,” Palm said, “we’re talking about which one-loss team is getting in [the BCS title game].”

Baylor would have a problem with multiple power-conference undefeated teams at the end of the season, if Ohio State or an ACC team runs the table in addition to say, Alabama.

Baylor gets a chance to prove its ranking in its next game Nov. 7 on national TV against BCS No. 10 Oklahoma. Even with their loss to Texas at the Cotton Bowl, the Sooners still command considerable national respect. A national TV audience will be watching on Fox Sports 1, which gets its best Big 12 game of the season.

A win over Oklahoma — and later against No. 15 Texas Tech, No. 18 Oklahoma State and Texas — could help Baylor with the BCS computers that have the Bears 10th.

Only once (2004) in the BCS era have more than two power conference teams run the table in the regular season.

Palm said Baylor would be ahead of any one-loss team if it finishes 12-0.

“If Baylor is undefeated, they’ll be at the top of list with other major-conference unbeatens,” Palm said.

While Baylor might have plenty of doubters — Palm says he wants to see the Bears play a quality opponent — few are found among the teams they play.

“It’s hard to simulate their tempo, and to simulate exactly what they’re going to do,” Kansas safety Cassius Sendish said.

Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty threw for a career-best 430 yards and now has 18 touchdown passes and just one interception.

“All I know is Bryce was about as good as I’ve ever seen him,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “I mean he was really, really on. To the naked eye, people wouldn’t understand, but he checked-down about three times, stuff he has never done all year.”

Even with Robert Griffin III, Baylor had struggled at Kansas. Not Saturday.

“Yeah, I mean it’s hard to win on the road, it’s hard to win at home,” Briles said. “It’s tough anywhere, and that’s why as you have a mature football team, the more you grow.”

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